Dartmouth men’s hockey is entering the final month of the regular season with match-ups this weekend against two teams experiencing very different seasons. Dartmouth goes from playing No. 3 Quinnipiac, the second-ranked team in the ECAC, on Friday to playing Princeton Saturday night.
“We’re looking at Quinnipiac first,” Grant Opperman ’17 said. “They’re a pretty good team and they play an offensive game. They’ve got a lot of skill on their team but I think we match up well with them skill for skill. It should be fun. It could turn into either a big shootout or a big defensive game.”
Dartmouth (3-14-3, 2-10-1 ECAC) is going to face an extremely tough battle against Quinnipiac (18-4-5, 8-2-3 ECAC), who will approach Friday with a must-win attitude. Quinnipiac is in a three-way race for first place with Union and Colgate, tying Colgate in points and trailing Union for first in the ECAC by just one point.
“We’re pretty excited,” Geoff Ferguson ’16 said. “Quinnipiac’s always a fun game. It’s always good to test yourself against one of the best teams in the nation. I think we’re right there with them if we play our game.”
Quinnipiac had been No. 4 last weekend but after remaining idle over the weekend, Quinnipiac rose one spot after RPI stunned Union 3-2. Now Union sits one spot behind Quinnipiac.
Yet in the end, very few people believe Dartmouth will upset the third-ranked team in the nation on Friday, but don’t tell that to Dartmouth’s players. They’ll approach every game from here on out as a must-win regardless of how strong the teams they face are.
“Every game is crucial,” Ferguson said. “We just got to get better every night especially with where we are right now. What we need to do is improve each night and we’ll be there by the end of the year.”
Statistically speaking, the odds are not in Dartmouth’s favor for Dartmouth is heading into the jaws of a team averaging 3.52 goals per game and allowing only 1.82 goals.
Freshman Sam Anas has stormed onto the collegiate scene, and leads Quinnipiac in both goals (16) and points (32). Anas currently ranks as the top-scoring first-year player in the nation, holding a three-point lead on St. Lawrence’s Matt Carey (29).
In order to have a chance at winning, Dartmouth must capitalize on every power play opportunity against Quinnipiac who has a penalty kill percentage of 90 percent. Otherwise, the Big Green may never have another chance to score.
Dartmouth’s last power play goal came on Dec. 30 in a wild 8-8 contest with then-No. 17 Northeastern. Since then, Dartmouth has gone 0-of-20 in its last six games.
Opperman, architect of the most exciting play in last week’s game against RPI, hopes to repeat his performance with another goal in, ideally, both of this weekend’s games. Against RPI last weekend, Opperman had scored right out of the penalty box, fielding a pass from Connor Dempsey, dekeing out the RPI goalie and knocking the puck in. His performance caused him to be nominated as ECAC Rookie of the Week.
“I hope if I score it’s not out of the penalty box before it happens but you have to love breakaways whenever they happen,” Opperman said.
Princeton (4-15-0, 3-9-0 ECAC) is ranked 11th out of 12 teams in the ECAC standings. Dartmouth sits last at No. 12. Princeton won both early season match-ups in overtime, 3-2 in October and 5-4 in November, explaining why Dartmouth is one spot behind the Tigers in the standings.
Dartmouth currently leads 95-86-15 in the historic rivalry, which dates back to 1907. Princeton will visit Hanover for the second game of a two-game road trip this weekend, the first being at Harvard on Friday night.
The good news for Dartmouth is that Eric Neiley ’15 will make his return. Neiley, one of Dartmouth’s top scorers, will have finished serving a two game suspension he receiving for a late-game altercation with a Cornell player two weekends ago.
If Dartmouth can stun Quinnipiac on Friday, the Big Green can climb out of the ECAC cellar with a win over Princeton. Unfortunately, Dartmouth will need a surprising turnaround if head coach Bob Gaudet’s squad wants to host a playoff series in Hanover.
“The Princeton game is always one of our highlights of the year,” Ferguson said. “The tennis ball toss and all the fans in the stands. It’s always a good night.”
Princeton has had little to smile about this season since squeaking by Dartmouth 3-2 to start the season. One of its few highlights was a surprising 3-2 upset over Quinnipiac. But overall, Princeton has been blown out in most of their losses, including being outscored 12-3 in two games by Michigan State.
Princeton has had a weak scoring offense all season, totaling just 35 goals. The Tigers leading scorer is senior Andrew Ammon but he has only six goals on the year. The power play offense is just as weak, scoring 11 goals on 69 opportunities.
Dartmouth should be able to harass Princeton’s goaltender all game long with Princeton’s poor defense, which has allowed 3.74 goals per game.
“I haven’t been around for a Princeton game yet but I hear it’s a lot of fun,” Opperman said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
Puck drop for both games is 7:00 p.m. If you’re in the Hanover area, don’t forget to bring your tennis balls for Saturday’s Princeton game.
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